Vanguard vs. iShares All-in-One ETFs | Million Dollar Journey (2024)

FAQs

Vanguard vs. iShares All-in-One ETFs | Million Dollar Journey? ›

Comparing the iShares

Do You Save Money If You Buy From Vanguard Directly? In many cases, buying and selling Vanguard funds directly through Vanguard is less expensive than making a purchase through a broker. That's because Vanguard has low to non-existent fees and commissions and most brokers charge commissions.

Holding too many ETFs in your portfolio introduces inefficiencies that in the long term will have a detrimental impact on the risk/reward profile of your portfolio. For most personal investors, an optimal number of ETFs to hold would be 5 to 10 across asset classes, geographies, and other characteristics.

Diversifying across multiple asset classes with ETFs can reduce risk by spreading out investments over more than one sector or geographic region for those with long-term investment goals, such as retirement planning or college funding for children.

Buffett bet that over 10 years, an S&P 500 index fund would outperform five actively managed hedge funds. His investment, the Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (NASDAQMUTFUND:VFIAX), not only won, but it trounced the competition -- earning returns of nearly 126% while the hedge funds averaged just 36%.

With the help of all-in-one ETFs, you won't have to worry about choosing the correct ratio of asset allocations or rebalancing your portfolio. All the work will be done for you with the help of investment experts.

ETFs can provide an easy way to be diversified and as such, the investor may want to have 75% or more of the portfolio in ETFs." To that end, Conzo says a more sophisticated investor may have additional needs.

The majority of individual investors should, however, seek to hold 5 to 10 ETFs that are diverse in terms of asset classes, regions, and other factors. Investors can diversify their investment portfolio across several industries and asset classes while maintaining simplicity by buying 5 to 10 ETFs.

How long should you hold an ETF? ›

Holding period:

If you hold ETF shares for one year or less, then gain is short-term capital gain. If you hold ETF shares for more than one year, then gain is long-term capital gain.

The best time to buy ETFs is at regular intervals throughout your lifetime. ETFs are like savings accounts from back when savings accounts actually paid you interest. Think back to a time when you (or your parents!) used to invest in your future by putting money into a savings account.

Can You Lose More Money Than You Invested in a Leveraged ETF? No, you cannot lose more money than you invested in a leveraged ETF. This is one of the main reasons why leveraged ETFs are considered less risky than traditional leveraged trading, such as buying on margin or short-selling stocks.

In the last 30 Years, the Vanguard S&P 500 (VOO) ETF obtained a 9.73% compound annual return, with a 14.96% standard deviation. In 2022, the ETF granted a 1.37% dividend yield. If you are interested in getting periodic income, please refer to the Vanguard S&P 500 (VOO) ETF: Dividend Yield page.

It's a common belief that investors get rich by picking individual stocks and beating the market. While that can be true, stock picking isn't the only path for investors to build wealth. Funds -- ETFs in particular -- can also make you a millionaire, even though many of them never beat the market.

Look for funds that have expense ratios below 1 percent. If you can handle the $3,000 minimum initial investment, I like the low-cost Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund and the Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (vanguard.com; 877-662-7447).

Through his holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett only owns one type of ETF: the S&P 500 ETF -- specifically, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEMKT: SPY).

The Vanguard Health Care ETF (VHT, $246.53) is tops among all bear market ETFs period, and it's certainly one of the safest Vanguard funds to put to use in a bear market. It's an extremely cost-efficient way to diversify, giving you access to some 420 healthcare-sector stocks for a mere 10 basis points in annual fees.

What is the negative side of ETFs? ›

Market risk

The single biggest risk in ETFs is market risk. Like a mutual fund or a closed-end fund, ETFs are only an investment vehicle—a wrapper for their underlying investment. So if you buy an S&P 500 ETF and the S&P 500 goes down 50%, nothing about how cheap, tax efficient, or transparent an ETF is will help you.

Bottom Line. ETF benefits, including simplicity, low expenses and tax efficiency, make ETFs a worthwhile investment for retirement. Popular types of ETFs for retirement include dividend ETFs, fixed-income ETFs and real estate ETFs.

Comparing the iShares and Vanguard all-in-one growth ETFs, again, there are slight differences. iShares gives you more US equity exposure (36.5% vs 31%) and less Canadian equity (20.51% vs 23.2%). Vanguard, on the other hand, gives you better global exposure to bonds.

They allow the fund company to rebalance its funds and maintain a constant allocation. Consequently, such investors will likely beat most people who pick individual ETFs.

A single stock can potentially return a lot more than an ETF, where you receive the weighted average performance of the holdings. Stocks can pay dividends, and over time those dividends can rise, as the top companies increase their payouts. Companies can be acquired at a substantial premium to the current stock price.

How the 4% Rule Works. The 4% rule is easy to follow. In the first year of retirement, you can withdraw up to 4% of your portfolio's value. If you have $1 million saved for retirement, for example, you could spend $40,000 in the first year of retirement following the 4% rule.

A 75-5-10 diversified management investment company will have 75% of its assets in other issuers and cash, no more than 5% of assets in any one company, and no more than 10% ownership of any company's outstanding voting stock.

One issuer cannot contribute more than 25% of the portfolio's fair market value. Five or fewer issuers cannot contribute more than 50% of its fair market value.

The Bottom Line. With many available options, investors can use $1000 to purchase ETFs, stocks, or bonds. Simply paying off outstanding debt may save money in interest payments over time and prove to be a wise investment.

What is the highest dividend ETF? ›

Availability and Scope of the ETF Rule

maintain their exchange listing may no longer rely on the ETF Rule and must satisfy individual redemption requests within seven days pursuant to Section 22(e) of the 1940 Act or liquidate if not listed on an exchange. See ETF Release at 61.

The opening 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) period is often one of the best hours of the day for day trading, offering the biggest moves in the shortest amount of time. A lot of professional day traders stop trading around 11:30 a.m. because that is when volatility and volume tend to taper off.

Just as with individual securities, when you sell shares of a mutual fund or ETF (exchange-traded fund) for a profit, you'll owe taxes on that "realized gain." But you may also owe taxes if the fund realizes a gain by selling a security for more than the original purchase price—even if you haven't sold any shares.

Since the job of most ETFs is to track an index, we can assess an ETF's efficiency by weighing the fee rate the fund charges against how well it “tracks”—or replicates the performance of—its index. ETFs that charge low fees and track their indexes tightly are highly efficient and do their job well.

The top reasons for closing or liquidating an ETF include a lack of investor interest and a limited amount of assets. An investor may not choose an ETF because it is too narrowly-focused, too complex, or has a poor return on investment.

ETFs are less volatile than stocks, so they do not give very high returns in a short period and similarly do not fall rigorously like stocks. ETFs are only for those who want slow and steady returns in the long term. For anybody expecting good returns overnight, an ETF is not a good option for you to invest in.

Vanguard is paid by the funds to provide administration and other services. If Vanguard ever did go bankrupt, the funds would not be affected and would simply hire another firm to provide these services.

ETFs often generate fewer capital gains for investors than mutual funds. This is partly because so many of them are passively managed and don't change their holdings that often. However, ETFs also have a structural ability, called the in-kind creation/redemption mechanism, to minimize the capital gains they distribute.

ETFs still perform well and can even beat out stocks and hands-on investors with very little effort on your part. You should still be willing to research different ETF options, but you don't have to be so concerned about picking “winners” as such.

Does Warren Buffett outperform the S&P 500? ›

Berkshire has a history of outperforming the S&P 500 during recessions, and performing especially well during bear markets, according to data from Bespoke Investment Group. Since 1980, Berkshire shares have beat the broader market over the course of six recessions by a median of 4.41 percentage points.

You only need one S&P 500 ETF

You could be tempted to buy all three ETFs, but just one will do the trick. You won't get any additional diversification benefits (meaning the mix of various assets) because all three funds track the same 500 companies.

SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)

The State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF is not only the oldest U.S. listed exchange-traded fund, but it also typically has both the largest assets under management (AUM) and highest trading volume of all ETFs. This alone makes the SPY the mother of all S&P 500 ETFs.

1. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTSAX)

Fund Performance

The fund has returned -7.77 percent over the past year, 18.56 percent over the past three years, 11.15 percent over the past five years and 12.20 percent over the past decade.

Buffett has long encouraged investors to opt for an S&P 500 ETF, and he famously put his money where his mouth was in 2008 when he bet that this type of investment would outperform a group of hedge funds. He won that bet by a landslide, with the S&P 500 fund earning total returns of more than 125% over 10 years.

Fortunately, the short answer is "Yes, you can!" Because of the way ETFs are structured, though, there is one thing you will have to plan around. If you expect to use ETFs as a key part of your retirement plan, you need to recognize when you'll need the money and invest it appropriately for that timeframe.

You can become a millionaire with ETFs if you invest enough money. The reality is, it is absolutely possible to become a millionaire by buying exchange-traded funds alone -- but you need to invest enough money in them to make that happen.

With a mutual fund, you buy and sell based on dollars, not market price or shares. And you can specify any dollar amount you want—down to the penny or as a nice round figure, like $3,000. With an ETF, you buy and sell based on market price—and you can only trade full shares.

What is the difference between Vanguard ETF and Vanguard fund? ›

Most Vanguard index mutual funds have a corresponding ETF. The most significant difference between mutual funds and ETFs is how tradable the shares are. ETFs can be bought and sold throughout the day, whereas mutual fund shares price only once per day.

You need a Vanguard Brokerage Account to trade stocks and ETFs (exchange-traded funds). It's easy to get started, and we can help you along the way.

Vanguard's mutual funds and ETFs aren't just low cost; they're significantly less expensive than the industry average. Vanguard's average expense ratio is 0.09%. The average expense ratio across all mutual funds and ETFs is 0.49%, according to an August 2021 study from investment researcher Morningstar. Admiral Shares.

Fidelity and Vanguard both do a good job keeping costs fairly low, but Fidelity has a slight edge overall. Both brokers charge zero commission for stock and ETF trades, but Fidelity charges $0.65 per contract on options trades, while Vanguard charges $1 per contract for customers with less than $1 million in assets.

VTI vs VOO: The Verdict

If you like the name-brand recognition of the S&P 500 and want to stick to large-caps, then VOO might be the better option. If you don't mind some mid and small-cap exposure, then VTI could be a good pick. Investors can potentially also use both as tax-loss harvesting pairs.

While many of these other companies are either corporate-owned or owned by third parties, Vanguard is owned by its funds, which are owned by their investors. This means that the profits generated by operating the funds are returned to investors in the form of lower fees.

ETFs are more tax-efficient than index funds by nature, thanks to the way they're structured. When you sell an ETF, you're typically selling it to another investor who's buying it, and the cash is coming directly from them. Capital gains taxes on that sale are yours and yours alone to pay.

Expense ratios: Vanguard earns money from the expense ratios of its own mutual funds and EFTs. Expense ratios are the fees paid by investors for investing in the fund.

Why can't i buy ETFs on Vanguard? ›

For newly opened brokerage accounts, you must have money in your settlement fund before you can buy an ETF.

First, you'll need to sell shares of the ETF; the proceeds of the sale will be available in your settlement fund within your account. Once the proceeds settle, two business days after the trade date, you can purchase shares of another security.

In the last 30 Years, the Vanguard S&P 500 (VOO) ETF obtained a 9.73% compound annual return, with a 14.96% standard deviation. In 2022, the ETF granted a 1.37% dividend yield. If you are interested in getting periodic income, please refer to the Vanguard S&P 500 (VOO) ETF: Dividend Yield page.

ETFs are subject to market fluctuation and the risks of their underlying investments. ETFs are subject to management fees and other expenses. Unlike mutual funds, ETF shares are bought and sold at market price, which may be higher or lower than their NAV, and are not individually redeemed from the fund.

Now is a great time to load up on quality ETFs.

The stock market has been rough this year, which can make it a daunting time to invest. But this volatility will pass, and over the long term, it's extremely likely the market will see positive average returns.